Federação Moçambicana de Futebol (FMF)

El Kaabi brace down Songo in Beira

A brace from striker Ayoub El Kaabi handed RS Berkane a vital 2-0 away win over ten-man UD Songo of Mozambique in their Group B Day Two match on Wednesday in Beira.

El Kaabi, top scorer at the Total African Nations Championship Morocco 2018 last February with a record nine goals scored twice in the second half in a game that the homers dominated but failed to bury the chances that came their way.

After a barren first half, Songo’s plight was worsened after defender Cremildo Nhantumbo was sent off after a second yellow card on 59 minutes. The exit of Nhantumbo was to the benefit of the visiting Moroccans, who broke the deadlock five minutes later courtesy El Kaabi.

A minute from time, El Kaabi sealed victory for Berkane, which means “volcano” as they maintained their 100 per cent record at the group stage.

The other Group B match between El Hilal (Sudan) and El Masry (Egypt) in Omdurman ended one-all.

Reactions

Chiquinho Conde (Head Coach, UD Songo)

We knew we were not at the same level as RS Berkanr, but we could have done better. The goals resulted from our mistakes and not the merit of our opponent. We faced more difficulties after the red card to Cremildo. With this defeat, our chances are complicated, but we will try to do better in the next games. Everything is possible.

Mounir Jaouani (Head Coach, RS Berkane)

We fulfilled our goal which was to try to gain points here. We won and it was good because we moved a step closer to qualification to the next stage. We studied the opponent well and they just made slight changes today because they did not use one of their best players.

Ayoub El Kaabi (Forward, RS Berkane)

I am happy to have contributed the goals that gave us an important victory here. However, it was a result of teamwork and it was extremely important to have won. I hope this victory will help us to move on to the next stage.